Brake-shoe.



Nun S4-2,3m. Patented 1an. so, |900. J. n. GALLAGHER.

BRAKE SHOE.

(Application led May 6, 1899.)

(No Model.)

NiTEn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH D. GALLAGIIER, OF GLEN RIDGE, NEV JERSEY.

BRAKE-SHOE..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 642,317, dated January 30, 1900.

Application led May 6, 1899. Serial No. 715,839. (No modelJ To all wir/0711, it may concern:

Beit known that I, JOSEPH D. GALLAGHER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Glen Ridge, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Brake-Shoes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to brake-shoes used on locomotives and cars propelled by power of any description.

Among others, there are two prominent classes of brakeshoes, one class of shoes being made of a body of soft iron with harder metal embedded in it, which class is fairly represented by what is commonly known as the Congdon shoe. In shoes of this class the function of the metal insert is to give life to the shoe by retarding the wearing away of the shoe by friction against the wheel. Shoes of this class are commonly known as insertshoes, the other class of shoes being made of a homogeneous mass of metal having certain portions of the wearing-face of the shoe hardened in the process of casting, so that when taken from the sand they present on their surface certain sections of soft iron and certain sections of chilled iron. In shoes of this class the function of the chilled metal is to give life to the shoe in the same way that the insert does in the case of insert-shoes. This class of shoe isfairly represented by the shoes commonly known as Lappin shoes, and they are commonly described as chilled shoes. It is to this class of chilled shoes that my invention particularly relates. The defect in this class of shoes as now madeis that the chilled sections do not penetrate all that part of the shoe which is worn away in use. As a consequence, when the shoe is half or even less than half worn ont the chilled section has been Worn out and the shoe becomes a soft-iron shoe and quickly wears out. It has of course long been recognized that this defect would be remedied by making the chills in the chilled sections of the shoe run throughout that portion of the shoe which is worn in use, and this has been in a measure accomplished by chilling` the extreme ends of the shoe from the ends; but it has been found that when it was attempted to deepen the chills in other sections of the shoe besides the ends, as it is very necessary to do, the shoe became dangerously weakened at the lines of union of the chilled and soft sections, due to the contracting effect of the chill, and in some cases chill-cracks would form at these points of union, making the shoe extremely liable to break in service. This fact has prevented the manufacturers of such shoes from using these deeply-chilled sections in shoes of this class.

The object of this invention is to provide a shoe in which the chilled sections will run through all the depth of the shoe which is worn in use and which will yet be strong and not liable to break in service, enabling the use of comparatively narrow but deep chilled sections, giving a greater area of soft metal on the wearing-face of 'the shoe and at the same time presenting during the whole life of the shoe a constant proportion of chilled metal at the wearing-surface, thus making the wear of the shoe and the braking power uniform during its life. To accomplish this result, I propose to embed during the process of casting within the metal of the shoe, at a point or points immediately adjacent to the back of the shoe, a strip of tough metal which will operate as a binder to bind firmly together the chilled and soft sections of the shoe, so that even if the shoe should crack in service at the points of union of the soft and chilled sections it will not fall apart. I put this strip of binding metal immediately adjacent to the back of the shoe, so as to prevent it from coming into contact with the tire of the wheel when the shoe is worn down in use. As this bindingstrip is intended to bind together the different sections of the shoe, it is essential that it be embedded in the iron sufficiently to be firmly held in place. This is accomplished by the central lug of the shoe, which straddles the binding-strip, and by the end lugs, which lugs cover the band at their points of union with the shoe, and in order to further assure this firm attachment of the binding-strip to the shoe I prefer to cast on the back of the shoe adjacent to the center lug a rib which will cover the whole bindingstrip for one-half of its length or more. In

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order also to insure the iirm holding of this binding-strip in the metal of the shoe,I make it considerably narrower than the shoe itself, thus enabling me to secure a heavy mass of metal on the sides of the binding-strip between it and the edges of the shoe. It will sometimes happen in the use of the brakeshoe of this invention that either because it is worn very thin or because itis unevenly hung, and therefore is worn very thin at one end, this bindingstrip will come in contact with the tire of the wheel at the extreme end of the shoe, and if it be made at the extreme ends narrower than the shoe itself it will tend to cause an uneven wear upon the tire of the Wheel. To obviate this objection I make my binding-strip at its ends of substantially the same width as the shoe itself, so that if it comes in contact with the tire of the wheel the wear over the whole width of the shoe will be uniform.

I will now proceed to describe the drawings.

Figure lis a plan view of the top of a brakeshoe with all of the lugs removed, showing one form of my binding-stri p. Fig. 2 is a similar view of a brake-shoe, showing another form of my binding-strip. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a brake-shoe having my bindingstrip, showing how the lugs are attached to the solid metal of the shoe and showing the rib which I cast on the shoe adjacent to the end lugs. Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of my shoe, showing the chilled sections and the soft-iron sections held together by the binding-strip.

.In Fig. l, A represents the body of the shoe, and B represents one form of the bindingstrip. l

In Fig. 2, A represents the body of the shoe, and B represents another form of the bindingstrip.

In Fig. 3, A represents the body of the shoe. B represents in dotted lines one form of the binding-strip embedded in the metal of the shoe. C represents the central lug to which the brake-head is attached. D D represent the lugs or projections at the end of the shoe. E E represent the rib in the preferred form of the shoe.

In Fig. 4, A represents the body of the shoe. B represents the binding-strip. C represents the central lug. D D represent the end lugs. E E represent the ribs in the preferred form of the shoe. F F F F represent the chilled sections of the shoe.

It will be observed that my binding-strip in its various forms is throughout the length of the shoe, except at its extreme ends, of much less width than the width of the shoe and at the extreme ends is made substantially of the full Width of the shoe. This binding-strip must be made of some tough fibrous metal, such as wrought iron or steel, and it will be found that a binding-strip of from one-eighth to one-quarter of an inch in thickness gives ample strength to the shoe.

In molding the shoe care should be taken to anchor this binding-strip securely in the sand, so that it will be suflciently embedded in the shoe and not float on the top of the molten metal.

The advantages arising from the use of this invention are as follows:

First. I am enabled to use very deep narnow chills in my brake-shoes without danger of the shoe breaking in use, thus much prolonging the life of the shoe.

Second. I am enabled by the use of a binding-strip less in width than the width of the shoe to obtain a binder for the different parts of the shoe which will be more firmly held in the body of the shoe than is possible when the binding-strip is the full width of the shoe, the binding-strip and the shoe, in'fact, really forming one homogeneous casting.

Third. I am enabled by reason of the lightness of the binding-strip to support it in the sand of the mold, thus permitting me to cast the shoe face down in the metal, which is very necessary When heavy chill-blocks are used, as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

Fourth. Iam enabled to obtain great toughness without the use of much weight of the expensive binding material.

Fifth. By the use of a binding-strip having its ends the full width of the shoe I support and strengthen the shoe at its corners, which are likely to chip off if not so supported, and in case the shoe is worn down to the binding-strip I provide a tire-dresser of the full width of the shoe.

I am aware that others have proposed to use wrought met-al or steel backs in an ordinary brake-shoe for the purpose of strengthening it, and I do not broadly claim such a back.

What I do claim is- 1. In a brake-shoe composed of alternate soft-iron and deep-chilled-iron -sections a binding-strip of tough metal of less Width than the shoe except at its extreme ends and having its ends broadened to substantially the full width of the shoe and embedded in the shoe immediately adjacent to the back thereof, substantially as described.

2. In a brake-shoe composed of alternate soft-iron and deep-chilled-iron sections a Z- shaped binding-strip embedded in the shoe immediately adjacent to the back thereof, substantially as described.

3. In a brake-shoe, a binding-strip embedded in the back of the shoe in combination with a rib or ribs so cast on the back of the shoe as to cover said binding-strip for more than half its length, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOS. D. GALLAGHER.

Witnesses:

AUGUST M.y TREscHow, PERcY L. GALLAGHER.

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